This Presidents' Day, party like a commander in chief

Brian Abrams, author of the new book "Party Like a President: True Tales of Inebriation, Lechery, and Mischief from the Oval Office." (Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

Rutherford B. Hayes wanted to hide it from his wife, Theodore Roosevelt denied it in court, and Harry S. Truman got started almost before the breakfast dishes were cleared.

It's drinking — and presidents do as much as their countrymen.

Advertisement

So just in time for Presidents Day, Brooklyn journalist Brian Abrams has published the definitive tome on White House high jinks, "Party Like a President: True Tales of Inebriation, Lechery, and Mischief from the Oval Office."

The book contains stories and, even better, recipes linked to each President.

"It's way more fun that picking up a textbook and reading about the Kansas-Nebraska Act," says Abrams.

The tippling tales offer a key insight into how our commanders-in-chief have wound down after a day's work.

Or before: Harry S.Truman started every day with breakfast, a 2-mile walk, and then an ounce of Old Grand-Dad to "get the engine going," according to Abrams.

When the Trumans moved to the White House, butler Alonzo Fields was instructed to make the president an old-fashioned. But Harry and Bess kept complaining they were too sweet, so eventually, the recipe became simply bourbon and ice.

Theodore Roosevelt once filed a libel suit against a newspaper that said he got drunk on the job, forcing the President to testify that he never was inebriated in the Oval Office but sometimes had a spoonful of brandy in milk before bedtime.

Hayes' wife, Lucy, banned booze from White House functions, so the Presidents' aides concocted a frozen punch to hide the alcohol — then served it in hollowed-out oranges filled surreptitiously with rum.

Obviously James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor were teetotalers — have you seen their hair? — but who knew that Gerald Ford was gin-soaked? The 38th President required two martinis on virtually every Air Force One flight, Abrams writes.

Some Presidents overindulged — Ulysses S. Grant was a renowned lush — but others power-tripped on booze. LBJ was well known for negotiating key legislation over a Scotch — but only after pouring a double portion for the dupe. And even during Prohibition, Warren G. Harding invited cronies over for whiskey.

Bartender Andy Shaner of Maysville in the Flatiron district recently served up some of Abrams' research: